For over a hundred years Arabs and Jews have been engaged in what is arguably the world's most long-lasting, bitter, and intractable dispute.
This conflict has engendered five interstate wars (1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, and 1982) and innumerable low-intensity clashes. As a source of daily media attention, United Nations resolutions, impassioned global debate, and Great Power rivalry, the Arab-Israeli conflict has no equal. Despite persistent interventions by the United States, Europe, and the United Nations, no resolution is in sight.

This course assesses the origins, dynamics, and the amazing, chameleon-like persistence of Arab-Jewish conflict over some five generations.

How did the rivalry begin?

What historical, legal, and moral arguments does each side marshal to justify its position?

What has been the role of the United States?

What does the conflict say about the nature of truth and morality in the modern world?

And what does the future hold?

This course welcomes students from all backgrounds — including those who have no prior knowledge of the conflict, students who by personal background or interest already know a good deal, and all those who fall between these poles.

Syllabi are available to current LSA students. IMPORTANT: These syllabi are provided to give students a general idea about the courses, as offered by LSA departments and programs in prior academic terms. The syllabi do not necessarily reflect the assignments, sequence of course materials, and/or course expectations that the faculty and departments/programs have for these same courses in the current and/or future terms.